The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.
It is known in the art that solar energy is a type of clean energy source that can be converted to produce electricity. Yet, the output of a solar power converter also relies heavily on weather conditions. For instance, many solar panels are designed to only convert solar energy during sunny daylight hours. They do not produce significant amount of energy during cloudy days or nighttime. Wind energy is another renewable energy that can be converted into electricity. It has emerged as the fastest growing source of energy, presenting a clean, renewable, and ecology-friendly alternative to traditional fossil-based energy supplies. However, due to seasonal and daily variations in wind speed, the output of a wind energy converter often fluctuates.
It is also known that the ability to harness wind energy and convert it to mechanical energy to perform work as in generating electricity via an electrical generator was achieved decades ago. The ability to harness solar energy either via optical concentrators to achieve thermal concentrations of heated elements and utilize the converted energy into work, or utilize the direct sun light converted in solar panels to create electricity has been viable for decades too.
Current wind farms in any geographic location are dormant during the solar maximum of the day with no ability to harness the suns energy. Likewise, solar farms during a windy night cannot harness the wind energy for electrical production. Attempting to combine both into a twenty four hour solution has its hurdles in the form of available sun light and inconsistent wind patterns at any time during a twenty four period. However the singular use of one or the other is inefficient when there is no solar or wind energy to harness.
Further, limited areas of land make combining solar and wind farms technically challenging and geographic landscapes prevent either, or both, green energy solutions due to composition of the earth and difficult terrain. By combining the ability into one single medium, it effectively increases the probability of one, or the other, and or, both mediums collecting and converting the energy into electricity during a twenty-four hour period, thus raising the efficiency of electrical production.
Other proposals have involved harnessing solar radiation energy and wind power generation. The problem with these energy producing systems is that they do not create a synergy for optimal generation of electricity. Also, the solar panels can overheat. Even though the above cited energy producing systems meet some of the needs of the market, an articulating solar energy and wind power harvesting apparatus that optimizes the harnessing of solar energy and wind power by rotatably and pivotally articulating a solar thermal collector plate to track the sun, and air foils to follow the changing direction and speed of the wind, while also directionally funneling the wind power captured by the air foils to cool the solar thermal collector plate is still desired.